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OLPC partners with Marvell for next gen XO laptop

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative has announced that it has partnered with chip manufacturer Marvell to develop its next-generation OLPC XO tablet computer, the XO-3. According to a post on the OLPC Blog, the new XO tablet "will be based on Marvell’s Moby reference design, and on OLPC’s current tablet designs".

Discussing the partnership, OLPC Founder and Chairman Dr. Nicholas Negroponte said, “While devices like eReaders and current tablets are terrific literary, media and entertainment platforms, they don’t meet the needs of an educational model based on making things, versus just consuming them," adding that, "Through our partnership with Marvell, OLPC will continue our focus on designing computers that enable children in the developing world to learn through collaboration, as well as providing connectivity to the world’s body of knowledge.”

The project says that the new tablets will include new elements and capabilities based on feedback from nearly two million users around the world and that it will require approximately only one watt of power, compared to about 5 watts in current XO laptops. The XO-3 will reportedly feature a 1GHz ARM processor and may make its first appearance at next year's Consumer Electroncs Show in Las Vegas. As previously confirmed by Negroponte, the XO-3 is expected to cost $75 and is targeted for release in 2012.

More information about the partnership can be found in an OLPC Press Release. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is a non-profit organisation who's mission is to provide children across the world with low cost laptops for the purposes of self-education.